Main topic: Lawsuit filed against Sotheby's for allegedly deceiving investors in the sale of Bored Ape NFTs.
Key points:
1. Sotheby's auction house is facing a lawsuit from investors who regret buying Bored Ape NFTs at inflated prices.
2. The lawsuit claims that Sotheby's misled investors by giving the NFTs an air of legitimacy and generating hype around the Bored Ape brand.
3. The undisclosed buyer of the NFTs was FTX, which was not revealed at the time of the auction, creating a false impression of mainstream interest in Bored Ape NFTs.
Recur, an NFT platform that featured collectibles from popular brands, is shutting down due to challenges and changes in the business landscape, causing a decline in the value of its offerings. Users can still access their NFTs through IPFS, but the company will disable deposits and gradually take its websites offline. This closure follows a trend in the NFT community, as other platforms have also shut down recently.
Prominent billionaire Mark Cuban believes that OpenSea's decision to disable its royalty system for NFTs is a major mistake that diminishes trust in the platform and hurts the NFT industry. He suggests a different approach where transactions for NFTs that pay their royalties are free, with OpenSea taking a percentage of the royalty as a fee. Cuban supports royalties for content creators as a way for them to continue getting paid even on secondary market sales.
China's economic woes, including deflation, declining exports, and weak domestic consumption, could spell trouble for the crypto market, although the impact may be diminished compared to the past; meanwhile, the decision by NFT marketplaces to no longer enforce creator fees has caused fear and uncertainty in the NFT markets; however, the launch of Friend.tech, a decentralized application integrating tokenomics with social media, has attracted over 100,000 users and demonstrated the demand for a fresh social media experience combined with the allure of quick profits.
The Milady Maker NFT project on the Ethereum blockchain has been exploited, resulting in the diversion of around $1 million in fees and the takeover of social media accounts, according to co-founder Charlotte Fang. However, user assets and reserves are reportedly safe, and the individuals involved in the exploit have been terminated and will be pursued legally.
The Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) focused on newer ideas and terms like Web3 rather than traditional concepts like cryptocurrency and blockchain, with attendees showing optimism despite the bear market conditions. The event highlighted discussions on privacy, scalability, blockchain gaming, regulatory challenges, and creating user-friendly applications. Founders emphasized the need for decentralized exchanges, privacy networks, and user retention strategies in the NFT space.
Google will allow games featuring nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to advertise on its platform, a developer stole $1 million from the Milady NFT collection, CNA Insurance excludes NFT coverage from a $20-million policy, the metaverse is popular in Asian markets, and Binance ends support for Polygon-based NFTs.
OpenSea, the once-leading marketplace for NFTs, has rescinded its mandatory royalty payments to NFT creators, losing market dominance to no-fee competitor Blur and contributing to a decline in NFT trading volume overall.
